1. Field of the Invention
Sound source localization provides important information on positions of voices of speakers while people are increasingly interested in Human-robot interaction worldwide. The present invention relates to multi-cantilever MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) sensor functioning as a mechanical sensor having a plurality of cantilevers, replacing a conventional DSP (Digital Signal Processor) based sound source localization algorithm and reducing production cost when the MEMS sensor applied to mass-produced robots, a manufacturing method thereof, a sound source localization apparatus using the multi-cantilever MEMS sensor and a sound source localization method using the sound source localization apparatus.
2. Background of the Related Art
A method using time delay of arrival (TDOA) between microphones, a method using a head related transfer function database of a platform, a beam forming method using a plurality of microphone arrays and so on are used for sound source localization.
A conventional sound source localization method measures the sound pressure of a sound according to a plurality of microphones in real time when the sound source is radiated to a three-dimensional space and performs post-processing on the measured sound pressure to localize the sound source position. When the sound source position is localized using the aforementioned method, a DSP chip is required to apply the post-processing to cases other than a PC environment. When the DSP chip is used, lots of computations are required for sound source localization to thereby result in an increase in system costs.
Furthermore, a procedure of performing the post-processing using a DSP chip while collecting information on the sound pressure measured in real time needs considerable buffering.